LARGE SURVEYS WITHSMALL TELESCOPES

Past, Present, and Future(Astroplate III)

March 11–13, 2019Bamberg, Germany

ABSTRACT BOOKLET

http://www.sternwarte.uni-erlangen.de/large-surveys-2019/17.04.2019

doi:10789/plate/lswst/100

Digital Transformation of Cultural Heritage: Exploringand Curating Historical Resources

Andrea Rapp

The Arts and Humanities are among the early adopters of computer technology.In the late 1940s, the linguist and Jesuit Father Roberto Busa S.J. convincedThomas J Watson and IBM that the exploration of Thomas Aquinas’ works couldbe more efficient using new digital methods. The index Thomisticus and theCorpus Thomisticum - a digital lemmatized collection of all works of ThomasAquinas have gone through all phases of technological development - via punchedcards, magnetic tapes and the WWW - and are still accessible today. Since then, amultitude of artifacts and resources have been digitized, so that by now althoughonly a fraction of the entire cultural heritage is digitally available, a critical massfor the development of digital research methods nevertheless exists. The talk willshow exemplary which strategies Digital Humanities use to generate, interlink andexplore knowledge from historical sources.

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Astronomical Photographic Archives: Past, Present,Future

Rene Hudec

There are more than 10 millions astronomical photographic negatives (glass platesand planfils/films) worldwide. Most of them represent stellar fields and solarimages, but there are also numerous negatives with other celestial objects. There islarge variety of these negatives (wide field and narrow field direct images, multipleimages, low dispersion and high dispersion spectra etc.). I will give review anddiscussion of these databases including recent progress in their digitization andscienfic use.

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Making Full Use of Astronomy’s Rich PhotographicHeritage

Elizabeth Griffin

We all know that Astronomy has a wonderful, rich, diverse but distributed heritageof photographic plates, counting into the millions. Most are well ordered, and ina reasonable (though often rather questionable) state of preservation. As such,they are the envy of many other natural sciences. But Astronomy’s heritage dataare generally unstaffed, lack routine monitoring and care, and lack any futureif they stay as they are. Some efforts are now being made, and some of thecollections are being, or have been, digitized in some manner; Harvard is makinggood progress with digitizing the biggest of all collections with a purpose-builtmachine. But there are many other collections, in various countries, with no future,and if nothing is done on a global scale we risk losing a great deal of unrepeatablescience. Positive action on that global scale is needed as a matter of urgency, beforethe expert knowledge about handling and interpreting photographic observationsis no longer available to us. This paper will describe what is being discussed tothose ends, and seeks space for a plenary discussion as to what is feasible.

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The photographic heritage of astronomy in Bonn

Michael Geffert

From the beginning of the photographic observations by Kustner in Bonn at 1900it was planned that future astronomers may use these data for the determinationof proper motions. This idea was realised by astronomers of Bonn starting in 1981.Their efforts resulted mainly in determinations of proper motions of stars in openand globular clusters. Moreover, astronomers from Hoher List observatory tookplates for the search of variable stars.

We give an overview of the projects using photographic plates of Bonn univer-sity and other telescopes like the famous observations of the Carte du Ciel.

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Sternberg Astronomical Institute’s plate collection: thepresent and future of its scientific use

Nikolay Samus

N. Samus1,2, S. Antipin2, D. Kolesnikova1, K. Sokolovsky3,4,2, A. Zharova2, A.Zubareva1,2

1 Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia2 Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Lomonosov Moscow University, Russia3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing,MI, USA4 Astro Space Center, Lebedev Physical Institute, Moscow, Russia

The astronomical plate collection of Moscow Observatory (now P.K. SternbergAstronomical Institute, SAI, of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow University) was foundedby Prof. S.N. Blazhko in 1895. The latest sky photographs in the collection weretaken in 2005. The total number of direct sky photographs, obtained with differenttelescopes and kept at different SAI departments, is estimated as 60000. The mostvaluable and actively used of them are 22300 direct plates taken in 1948–1996 withthe 40-cm (f = 160 cm) astrograph, each covering a 10 by 10 degrees sky area downto a typical limiting magnitude of B=17. Digitization of these plates is under waysince 2006. We use scans of star fields to discover and study new variable starsof the MDV (“Moscow Digital Variable”) series. By 2018, we published discoveryannouncements for MDV 1 – MDV 870. A part of these data were used to comparethe results of automatic variable-star classification and traditional classificationperformed by experts. A large fraction of our new discoveries turn out to bein Gaia DR2 variable-star lists. However, the Gaia team has not yet publishedtheir results for eclipsing stars (apparently because of difficulties of reliable perioddetermination resulting from Gaia sampling). With the advent of Gaia and otherdeep time-domain surveys, the focus of our work may shift from identification ofnew variable stars to a study of their secular behavior including period variations,changes of mean brightness, etc. Our software is inefficient in detecting transientphenomena (objects that stay below the plate limit most of the time). We arelooking for better solutions. Other parts of the SAI plate collection may be usefulfor astrometry and for discovering transient events in the M31 and M33 galaxies.

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Records from the past: variable stars from the Asiagoplate archive

Roberto Nesci

Direct plates archives may be used to remeasure stars which were the target of theobservations or to look at other stars discovered to be interesting only at a latertime. I present here two cases: a search for Long Period Variable (LPV) starson IR plates, and a search for past outbursts of a recently discovered cataclismicvariable. Long period red variables (LPV) have been searched in a collectionof Schmidt plates of the Asiago Observatory taken in the I band, centered onGamma Cas and covering the years 1967-1975. These plates were not used bythe original investigators. Digitization was made at the Perugia University andanalysis was performed with the PyPlate software developed for the APPLAUSEproject. Twentyone variables were found, nearly doubling the number of presentlyknown variables in the field. Ten stars have Mira light curves, two of them withmarked double period. Spectroscopic follow-up gave a large fraction of Carbonstars (7/21) and of S-type stars (6/21). Blue plates of the same field were alsotaken in pair with the IR ones and I have used them to explore the past behaviourof ASASSN-18aan, a CV variable recently discovered robotically. Thre past flareswere identified and a possible recurrence time scale of about one year was found.

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Photographic and Digital Surveys at SonnebergObservatory

Peter Kroll

Sonneberg Observatory run photographic sky surveys (Sky Patrol and Field Patrol)from 1923 through 2010, the plates of which have mostly been digitized. The goalof continuation of the surveys by digital means has gradually been realized by fish-eye cameras and small telescopes monitoring of selected fields. The talk providesa brief overview on current scanning, observing and analysing activities.

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The APPLAUSE-Project: The plate archives

Ulrich Heber, Detlef Groote

The Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte in Bamberg, the Leibniz-Institut fur Astrophysik,Potsdam and the Hamburger Sternwarte host important astronomical plate archives.Astronomers from those institutions teamed up to digitize their archives, calibrateand integrate them into the publically available database APPLAUSE. In an in-ternational collaboration also the plate archive of the Tartu observatory was in-cluded. Here we briefly describe the instrumentations used and the history of theplate archives of the collaboration.

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Impact of the ASAS-SN survey and the Moscow’sphotographic plates archive on the nature of the emission

line star HBHA 1704-05

Augustin Skopal

The star HBHA 1704-05 was originally classified as an emission-line star (Ko-houtek and Wehmeyer, 1999). On the basis of The All Sky Automated Survey forSuperNovae (ASAS-SN), the object was cataloged in the VSX as an semi-regularvariable with a periodicity around 418 days. At the beginning of August 2018, theASAS-SN survey indicated a rapid brightening of the star. Following high-cadencephotometric and spectroscopic observations clarified the nature of HBHA 1704-05as a symbiotic star in outburst. Monitoring the object within the ASAS-SN surveyfor around 3.5 years revealed a wave-like variation with the amplitude DV ∼ 0.7mag and a period of ∼ 495 days. Our close inspection of the Moscow’s photo-graphic plates archive revealed another 2-mag outburst of HBHA 1704-05 lastingfrom 1968 to around 1990, during which a regular variation with the same periodand phase, but amplitude of D(mpg) ∼ 1 mag, emerged. These properties supportthe nature of HBHA 1704-05 as a symbiotic binary with the orbital period of 495days. Close similarities with other symbiotic systems are briefly discussed.

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Long-term activity of cataclysmic variables and relatedobjects (large amplitude features)

Vojtech Simon

Cataclysmic variables and their relatives (low-mass X-ray binaries) are very ac-tive objects. We summarize the dominant features of their activity. We showthat monitoring by various types of instruments is necessary to detect the events(e.g. outbursts, transitions between the high and low states) which are often un-predictable. Histograms of brightness provide us with the properties of activityof various types of such objects. Photographic monitoring spanning for about acentury enables to study the properties of the light curves. We also show how thephotographic light curves can be combined with the CCD and visual observations.The long monitoring also shows that the activity of some objects dramaticallychanged during several decades. We also briefly summarize the astrophysical in-terpretations of the long-term activity.

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Digitized photographic plate photometry with VaSTsoftware

Kirill Sokolovsky

Photographic emulsion is a non-linear light detector which makes it difficult to per-form photometry with digitized plates using conventional software. Inexpensiveflatbed scanners (often used to digitize plates) provide image quality acceptablefor photometry, but introduce complex image distortions (notably, the hacksawpattern) that complicate astrometry and source identification. VaST is a pho-tometry package designed from the ground up to handle such images. It relieson SExtractor for source detection/photometry, matches source lists derived fromplates exposed at different epochs and cross-calibrates their magnitude scales toconstruct lightcurves of all the detected objects. An array of statistical methodscan be applied to these lightcurves to identify variable objects. Accurate celestialpositions of variable objects are measured by using nearby sources to computelocal corrections to the approximate plate solution obtained with Astrometry.net.VaST is used mostly with the Moscow collection plates, but is intended to bea general-purpose tool for lightcurve extraction from a series of digitized photo-graphic images.

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PyPlate: a software package for processing digitizedastronomical photographic plates

Taavi Tuvikene

Digitizing an archive of photographic plates yields a set of image files and ac-companying metadata files. To handle and process these data efficiently, we havedeveloped a Python package PyPlate. PyPlate provides methods to read data fromCSV and FITS files, to make calculations with various observation timestamps, tocreate consistent and easily readable FITS headers, to write plate metadata intoa database, to extract sources from plate images, to carry out astrometric andphotometric calibration on the extracted sources, and to output the source datato a database or files on disk. We will show how the PyPlate software was used forbuilding the APPLAUSE database and discuss how it can be applied elsewhere.

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False-positives detection with convolutional neuralnetworks

Gal Matijevic

Digital scans of photographic plates are more complicated to handle in compar-ison to the CCD frames. Due to their fragile nature and age they are subjectto several effects that act as a source of false-positive detections. Among theseeffects are surface dust speckles, scratches, emulsion damage, and writing traces.Besides those the optical systems used to acquire the images come with their shareof aberrations which make the removal of false-positives harder. The APPLAUSEdatabase already consists of a few billion detected sources, many of which are notof astrophysical nature. Their detection and / or removal is very important forpractical purposes but it is obviously not a trivial task. We will present a convo-lutional neural network based pipeline that efficiently and quickly weeds out thefalse-positive detections and is also capable of assigning false-positive probabilityto individual sources in less clear-cut cases. Our plan is to use its output in thenext APPLAUSE data release.

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The APPLAUSE archive: concept, building with PyPlate,and hands-on tutorial on usage

Harry Enke

In this three-part session we (T. Tuvikene, H. Enke) will first present the conceptof the archive, describe its building blocks and features.

The second part of the session is devoted to the PyPlate software, a Pythonpackage developed for handling and processing digitised photographic plates. Wewill show how it was used for building the APPLAUSE archive and discuss how itcan be applied elsewhere.

During the hands-on session, the third part, we will explore various methodsof accessing the APPLAUSE database, from browsing the image viewer and us-ing simple forms to submitting SQL queries and writing scripts. We will showhow to combine data from different tables in order to write efficient queries. Allparticipants are welcome to try the examples.

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Astrometric Surveys: from photographic plates to CCDs

Norbert Zacharias

A review is given about astrometric, ground-based surveys including plate measuremachines and CCD techniques. The Astrographic Catalogue project of around1900 was the first of its kind, followed by AGK2, AGK3, Palomar and otherSchmidt plate surveys and modern astrographs dedicated for astrometry (Ham-burg, USNO). The full potential of those surveys could only recently be realizedusing accurate plate measure machines (PDS, NOFS, StarScan, DAMIAN). TheUCAC project was the first all-sky astrometric survey performed using a CCDdetector, while the URAT program was the last such ground-based effort.

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One Million Variable Stars from the OGLE Survey

Igor Soszynski

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) began in 1992 and it hasnow become one of the world’s largest optical surveys devoted to searching forvariability in the sky. During its long history, the OGLE survey collected about onetrillion individual photometric measurements for over two billion stars in the MilkyWay and in nearby galaxies. These data has led to many discoveries in various fieldsof astronomy: gravitational lensing and microlensing, extrasolar planets, structureof galaxies, cosmic distance scale, Kuiper belt objects, etc. Variable stars occupya special position among the most important achievements of the survey. TheOGLE Collection of Variable Stars currently contains nearly one million objectsof various types and this is the largest set of variable stars ever obtained by anyastronomical project. I will present the most spectacular OGLE discoveries in thefield of variable stars.

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Robotic astronomy with the Las Cumbres Observatory

Yiannis Tsapras

The Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) is an independent, non-profit foundationdedicated to time-domain astronomical observations at optical wavelengths. Tothis end, LCO has constructed a homogeneous world-wide network of 21 robotictelescopes, which includes the two 2m Faulkes telescopes, 9×1m telescopes, and10×40cm telescopes. The telescopes are outfitted for imaging and spectroscopy atwavelengths between the atmospheric UV cutoff and the roughly 1-micron limit ofsilicon detectors.

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The Dragonfly Telephoto Array: Exploring the LowSurface Brightness Universe

Allison Merritt

The Dragonfly Telephoto Array, comprised of 48 individual Canon telephoto lensesoperating together as a single telescope, provides an innovative approach to lowsurface brightness imaging. Sub-nanometer coatings on each optical element re-duce scattered light from nearby bright stars and compact galaxy centers — typi-cally a key obstacle for integrated light observations — by an order of magnitude,and Dragonfly’s large field of view (2 x 2.6 degrees for a single frame) provides alarge-scale view of the low surface brightness skies. I will introduce Dragonfly, andpresent highlights from both past and ongoing deep optical surveys. Finally, I willprovide a preview of our team’s upcoming survey and instrumentation plans.

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The Evryscope: Science from the First Full-SkyGigapixel-Scale Telescope

Brad Barlow

The Evryscope, built by astronomers at the University of North Carolina, was de-ployed at CTIO in May 2015 and represents the world’s first full-sky gigapixel-scaletelescope. With its 24 separate individual telescopes sharing a common mount,the system images an 8000 square degree field of view once every two minutes. TheEvryscope has been building 1%-precision, high-cadence light curves for all acces-sible objects brighter than 16th magnitude since August 2016 and will continue todo so for several more years. With the final Evryscope reduction pipeline havingjust been completed, multi-year light curves are now being produced for millionsof Southern-hemisphere stars. Here I present an overview of the telescope’s de-sign and performance, and I discuss early science results with a focus on M dwarfflares, variable hot subdwarf systems, exoplanet discovery & characterization, andoptical transients.

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An introduction to the Zwicky Transient Facility

Thomas Kupfer

The Zwicky Transient Facility began its 3 year time-domain survey in March 2018,using its camera with a 47 square degree field on the Palomar 48-inch Schmidttelescope. As part of the its surveys, ZTF carries out high-cadence observation ofselected Galactic fields as well as moderate cadence observations of a 3000 squaredegree field at higher declination. Additionally, 40% of ZTF observing time isdedicated to two public surveys: one covering the entire Northern sky every threenights in g and r passbands and one visiting the Galactic Plane every night in gand r. Real-time transient alerts from these surveys have been public since June2018 and the first release of archival imaging and time series data is scheduledfor Summer 2019. In this talk I will describe the survey and present some earlyresults.

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An Occultation Network as a Detector of Distant SolarSystem Objects

Malena Rice

We discuss the feasibility of and present initial designs and cost estimates for alarge (N 2000) network of small photometric telescopes that is purpose-built tomonitor V<15 Gaia Mission program stars for occultations by minor solar sys-tem bodies. The implementation of this network would permit measurement ofthe solar system’s tidal gravity field to high precision, thereby revealing the ex-istence of distant trans-Neptunian objects such as the proposed “Planet Nine”.As a detailed example of the network capabilities, we investigate how occultationsby Jovian Trojans can be monitored to track the accumulation of gravitationalperturbations, thereby constraining the presence of undetected massive solar sys-tem bodies. In particular, we show that the tidal influence of Planet Nine can bediscerned from that of smaller, nearer Kuiper belt objects. Moreover, ephemeridesfor all small solar system bodies observed in occultation could be significantly im-proved using this network, thereby improving spacecraft navigation and refiningSolar System N-body modeling. Finally, occultation monitoring would generatedirect measurements of size distributions for asteroid populations, permitting abetter understanding of their origins.

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Asteroids monitoring with 1.2m Baldone Schmidt (code069) telescope.

Ilgmars Eglitis

Current data. CCD observations of the asteroids are obtained with the 0.80/1.20m, f/3 Baldone Schmidt telescope of the Baldone observatory (code 069) of theInstitute of Astronomy of University of Latvia. Now the telescope is equipped withtwo CCD STX-16803 36 × 36 mm cameras. In the Minor Planet Circulars and theMinor Planet Electronic Circulars we published 3511 astrometric positions of 826asteroids. Among them, 48 asteroids were newly discovered at Baldone. For 36 ofthese asteroids the precise orbits were calculated. The orbits and the evolution oforbital elements of two interesting asteroids, (428694) 2008 OS9 from the Apollogroup and the Centaur (330836) Orius (2009 HW77), were recalculated includingnew observations obtained after 2011.From the earliest years of data. The archive of Baldone Schmidt telescope containmore than 22 000 direct wide fiield images. Digital processing of photographicplates of star field allow, in addition to the main tasks to carry out a massivesearch for images of small bodies of the solar system and determine their coordi-nates. From the observations of earlier epoch, we can extract information aboutthe locations of these bodies well before discovering them. Modern approach toprocessing early photographic observations with new technologies can be an effec-tive instrument for rediscovery of asteroids and obtain correction their orbits. Weanalyzed the results of observations of clusters in UBVR bands and some ultravi-olet plates of other star fields made on the 1.2-m Baldone Schmidt telescope.

At the moment, all images of known minor planets on 70 plates with 9.8 -17.1 stellar magnitude were identified. The catalog of positions and magnitudes ofthe searching asteroids was compiled. Among them are detected positions for 10asteroids which at the time of observation were the earliest of the world’s knownobservations of these asteroids. All asteroids positions were compared with theephemeris JPl DE431.

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Observatorium Wendelstein - Status, Use and FutureStrategy

Ulrich Hopp

We will describe the capabilities of the Observatorium Wendelstein (University ofMunich,LMU), mainly of its 2m telescope with its three operational imaging andspectroscopic instruments. We will describe their performances based on a fewscience examples, partly survey type programs. Finally, we will discuss strategieshow to benefit from the Wendelstein Observatory in times of up-coming new majorastronomy resources.

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Surveying exoplanets across the spectrum - following theTraCS of exoplanets

Christian Obermeier

In this talk, I will describe the efforts done by the Wendelstein observatory infollowing up known exoplanets and planet candidates both spectroscopically andphotometrically. We are currently installing a high-resolution spectrograph, cali-brated with an LFC, and a simultaneous 3-channel camera that covers photometricbands between u and Ks. With the latter, we are currently performing a transitsurvey where we observe primary and secondary in order to determine their TransitColour Signature (TraCS).

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Microlensing survey of M31 with the 2m Wendelsteintelescope

Arno Riffeser

The determination of the mass function (MF) of stars as a function of environ-ment and metallicity is of fundamental importance, e.g., for understanding thestar formation process, the mass-to-light ratios of galaxies, and the evolution ofgalaxies. The pixel microlensing technique applied to images of M31 with a 2mclass telescope is able to constrain the mass function of stars and remnants for thebulge of M31. The bulge of M31 is metal rich and old and in this respect verydifferent from the environments for which for e.g. the faint-end MF can be deter-mined up to now. On the other hand, its stellar population is similar to the one ofmassive elliptical galaxies. High quality observations with a PSF better than 0.8arcsec over several weeks of the M31 bulge can yield enough micro lensing eventsto discriminate between some of the major currently discussed faint-end MFs (e.g.Kroupa, Zoccali, Chabrier) and additionally provide the number and distributionof stellar remnants and therefore the complete M/L ratio.

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Periodic Variables in the ASAS-SN and APOGEE Surveys

Michal Pawlak

I would like to present the results of a search for periodic variable stars among thetargets observed by the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment(APOGEE) using photometry from the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae(ASAS-SN). The catalog consists of 1925 periodic variables selected from morethan 258000 APOGEE targets. The sample is homogeneously classified into 430eclipsing and ellipsoidal binaries, 140 classical pulsators (Cepheids, RR Lyrae anddelta Scuti), 720 long period variables (pulsating red giants) and 635 rotationalvariables. The search was performed using both visual inspection and machinelearning techniques. The light curves were also modeled with the damped randomwalk stochastic process. The median [Fe/H] of variable objects is lower by 0.3 dexthan that of the whole APOGEE sample. The median of eclipsing binaries andellipsoidal variables is shifted to the lower [Fe/H] by 0.2 dex. Eclipsing binariesand rotational variables exhibit significantly broader spectral lines than the restof the sample.

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MCSF: the Magellanic Clouds massive Stars and theirFeedback survey

Dominik Bomans

We generated a multi-color (uBVRI, H-alpha), multi-epoch survey of the Mag-ellanic Clouds (7x7 degree on the LMC, 4x2.5 degrees on the SMC) using thetwin 15cm refractors of the ”Universitatssternwarte Bochum” at Cerro Armazones,Chile. Goal of the survey was a relatively shallow (limiting B magnitude of about19) but well sampled (1 arcsec/pix) photometry, which provides non-saturated,multi-color, multi-epoch imaging data for even the brightest stars of the Magel-lanic Clouds. Such a data set can not only be used for the study of massive starsand their feedback, but is also well matched to several survey plates collectionsfor long term variability studies. We will present the survey data products, somescience highlights on massive, variable stars, and explore synergies with scannedphotographic plate data of the Magellanic Clouds, like the Bamberg MagellanicClouds plates in the APPLAUSE database, and ESO 3.6m plates in the Bochumplate collection.

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SPECULOOS - On the hunt for habitable planetswell-suited for atmospheric characterization

Daniel Sebastian

After the astonishing discovery of seven Earth-sized planets around TRAPPIST-1,a Jupiter-sized star only 12 pc away, the hunt for temperate, rocky exoplanets goesinto its next phase. The SPECULOOS survey is a new transit survey focusing onthe 1000 brightest (K≤12.5) ultra-cool dwarfs (spectral type M7 or later). Itsmain objective is to detect temperate terrestrial worlds well-suited for detailedatmospheric characterization with upcoming JWST and ELTs. It also aims toprobe the frequency and diversity of short-period planets around the lowest-massstars and brown dwarfs. In this talk, I will present SPECULOOS, its currentstatus, as well as its first results.

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Newest results of the Next Generation Transit Survey(NGTS)

Philipp Eigmuller

In 2018 the firsts transiting exoplanets discovered with NGTS have been published.NGTS consists of twelve telescopes sited at ESO premise on Paranal, Chile. Theoptimal photometric conditions on site combined with the optimized instrumentallow us to detect signals a magnitude smaller compared to previous ground basedwide field surveys. With the sensitivity reaching more into the red wavelengthNGTS focus to detect Neptune sized planets around K-dwarfs. One of these planetsis NGTS-4b which lies directly in the middle of the sub-jovian desert. With itshigh photometric precision and time resolution NGTS data allows not only for thesearch of transiting exoplanets but for a wide range of scientific applications relatedto variability of stars. Already now several studies on stellar flares are based onNGTS data. All NGTS observations will be accessible over the ESO archive. Thefirst light curves of hundred thousands of stars are already accessible.

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Spectroscopy for determing the statistics of planets intransit surveys

Eike W. Guenther

Since the mass and life-time of the protoplanetary disk depends on the mass of thehost stars, the properties of the planets are expected to depend on the mass of thehost stars too. The question thus is how the properties of planets change with themass of the host star. Determining the statistics of planets for stars of differentmasses using radial-velocity surveys is not easy, because the accuracy of radial-velocity measurements strongly depends on the rotation velocity, the number ofspectral lines and also on the activity-level of the host star. Transit surveys arestrongly biased towards short period planets and biased against large stars but it iseasy to correct for these effects. It is also relatively easy to calculate the correctionfactors for activity-level if the activity-level of the stars are known. Transit surveysare thus ideal to detect short-period planets of hot stars like WASP-33b, KELT-9,or MASCARA-1. In order to determine the statistics as a function of stellar mass,all we have to do is to characterize the sample of stars. For The CoRoT-mission wehave done this using the AAOmega multi-object spectrograph. This worked outvery well given that each CoRoT-field had a size of 1.5x3.0 (1.5x1.5) degrees andAAOmega a field-of-view of 2 degrees. However, how are we going to characterizethe sample of PLATO 2.0 given that each field has size of 2250 square degrees?A new approach is certainly needed. The interesting aspect is that this is anopportunity for small telescopes, given that the main targets will be between 4 to11 mag.

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The Gaia catalogue of hot subluminous stars

Stephan Geier

Based on data from the ESA Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2) and several ground-based, multi-band photometry surveys we have compiled an all-sky catalogue of39800 hot subluminous star candidates selected in Gaia DR2 by means of colour,absolute magnitude, and reduced proper motion cuts. We expect the majority ofthe candidates to be hot subdwarf stars of spectral type B and O, followed by bluehorizontal branch stars of late B-type (HBB), hot post-AGB stars, and centralstars of planetary nebulae. The catalogue is magnitude limited to G<19 mag andcovers the whole sky. Cross-matching this catalogue with large surveys of all kinds,we are aiming to compile the first volume-complete 500 pc sample of sdO/B stars.

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PLATO deep-field south: its input catalog from BMK10kobservations

Klaus Strassmeier

PLATO is ESA’s M3 mission for launch in 2026. It will search for extrasolarplanets by means of ultra-high-precision transit photometry. This requires a well-selected and well-defined stellar input sample for optimized planet harvesting.Two long-duration PLATO fields form the core of the mission. The one field inthe southern hemisphere will be observed with BMK10k well in advance of themission for support of its target input catalog. The BMK10k survey will pro-vide well-sampled light curves of all resolvable targets in the 2250 square degreesouthern field. The task is to determine false positives (mostly close-by eclipsingbinaries) and extract a variability flag for all accessible stars on the basis of theirlong-term brightness rms. It will enable the pre-determination of precise photo-metric periods, in particular stellar rotation periods, and the expected degree of(spot) activity. Besides, the survey will identify and characterize the target con-tamination down to the BMK10k resolution limit of 2.5”/pix for every PLATOpixel and photometry window (PLATO’s pixel size will be 15”, similar to TESS‘s21”; PLATO’s photometry window is 90” squared). The survey also extends thenorthern STELLA Open Cluster Survey (SOCS) to the southern hemisphere withinitial focus on Ptolemy’s cluster.

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The BRITE-Constellation and its scientific highlights

Konstanze Zwintz

During their more than six years in space, the five BRITE-Constellation nano-satellites have completed observations of more than 550 individual targets brighterthan about 6th magnitude. The data have allowed us to study a variety of variabil-ity phenomena covering a wide range across the HR-diagram including differenttypes of pulsations, wind phenomena, rapidly rotating stars (e.g. Be), binary andmultiple systems, and stars with planets. Some of the prime science results there-fore comprise the discovery of massive heartbeat systems, the apparent interactionof phenomena on very different time scales in Be stars, the proof of a photosphericconnection for the wind variations in very massive stars, g-modes and g-mode pe-riod spacings in beta Cephei, SPB and gamma Doradus stars or the presence ofonly two pulsation modes in a magnetic delta Scuti star. I will give an overviewof the latest scientific results obtained from BRITE-Constellation data.

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Pulsating stars with TESS

Peter De Cat

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS; Ricker et al., 2015, JATIS 1,014003) was launched on April 18, 2018, and started its scientific observations onJune 25, 2018. It is gathering ultra-precise photometric observations for celestialobjects with IC ≈ 4 - 13 and an ecliptic latitude above 6 degrees. Preselected tar-gets are observed with a cadence of 2 minutes while full-frame images are obtainedevery 30 minutes. In two years time, the largest part of the sky will be scannedwith 26 sectors of 24 degrees × 96 degrees for a duration of 27 days each. Duringthe first year of the mission, the satellite is pointing to the ecliptic southern hemi-sphere before moving on to the north in the second year of observations. Giventhat the sectors overlap near the ecliptic poles, the total time span of the observa-tions of a star can last up to 351 days, depending on its ecliptic latitude. The mainaim of the mission is to detect planetary transits in the light curves of nearby starsbut the TESS data will be a goldmine for variable stars of all types and flavors.The observations of the first few sectors have been released by now. During thistalk, I will show the importance of TESS for asteroseismology of different types ofpulsating stars based on a few examples of first results.

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Compact binaries in the TESS era

Ingrid Pelisoli

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been gathering light curvesfor thousands of nearby stars. Although its primary goal is to find planets, the2-minute cadence light curves obtained by TESS for pre-selected stars, with pre-cision better than 1%, are also ideal to search for variability effects caused by abinary companion, such as reflection and eclipses. The brightness of TESS pre-selected targets also makes them ideal for ground-based follow-up, allowing forthorough characterisation of the observed systems and providing constraints forbinary evolution models. In this talk, we will show recent discoveries in the fieldof compact binary stars made possible by TESS, as well as discuss the desiredfollow-up observations for these systems.

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Euclid Survey Operations

Xavier Dupac

Euclid is the next ESA space telescope dedicated to cosmology, to be launched in2022. It will perform a large survey of galaxies over 15000 sq. deg. of the Extra-galactic sky. The design of the survey is mostly performed by the Euclid Consor-tium, with some help of the Science Operation Centre (ESA), while survey opera-tions are performed by the SOC. In this presentation, we will concentrate on thescience operation aspects of the Euclid survey, including daily planning and mon-itoring of the survey, planned reaction to contingencies and under-performance,re-scheduling and other modifications of the planned survey. We will also presentthe organizational aspect of this activity, which involves many actors of the GroundSegment.

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The Hamburg Quasar Survey

Dieter Engels

The Hamburg Quasar Survey carried out 1985 - 1997 was using the Calar AltoSchmidt telescope equipped with an objective prism. The survey covered theNorthern sky at galactic latitudes b > 20 deg, and declination delta > 0 deg). Thespectroscopic Schmidt contain usable spectra with a seeing limited resolution of45 Angstroem at Hgamma in the magnitude range 14 < B < 19. The HQS archivecontains 1288 plates for 567 fields. These plates were scanned in full mapping modeby the Hamburg PDS microdensitometer and the digitized database was used fora variety of astronomical applications, in addition to the search for (mostly bright)quasars. The analysis of HQS prism spectra of quasars discovered by more recentsky surveys may unearth ’changing look’ quasars, in which dramatic changes inthe accretion process may have occurred on timescales of tens of years.

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Cosmology with objects discovered by the HamburgSchmidt surveys

Dieter Reimers

The all-sky Calar Alto/ ESO Schmidt objective prism surveys led to discoveriesin the fields of

• HeII reionization/HeII Lyman forest

• a dozen bright gravitationally lensed multiple OSOs

• The most metal deficient PopII stars known

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Byurakan spectroscopic surveys and their scientificdiscoveries

Areg Mickaelian

A review on the main characteristics of Byurakan spectroscopic surveys: Markar-ian survey (or the First Byurakan Survey, FBS) and the Second Byurakan Survey(SBS), their comparison with other similar surveys and the importance of Markar-ian galaxies and other objects discovered on the basis of FBS and SBS in modernastrophysics. Markarian Survey was the first systematic survey for active galaxiesand was a new method for search for such objects. Until now, it is the largestobjective prism survey of the sky (17,056 sq. deg). It was carried out in 1965-1980by B. E. Markarian et al. and resulted in discovery of 1515 UV-excess (Markarian)galaxies. They contain many active galaxies (both AGN and Starbursts, SB), aswell as powerful gamma-ray, X-ray, IR and radio sources (Mrk 180, 231, 421, 501,etc.), BCDGs (Mrk 116) and interacting/merging systems (Mrk 266, 273, etc.).They led to the classification of Seyfert galaxies into Sy1 and Sy2 and the definitionof SBs. Markarian galaxies have been published in several catalogs (Mazzarella& Balzano 1986; Markarian et al. 1989, 1997; Bicay et al. 1995; Petrosian et al.2007). Markarian survey also served as a basis for search for UVX stellar objects(or blue stellar objects, BSOs, including QSOs and Seyferts), late-type stars andoptical identification of IR sources. 1103 BSOs, 1471 late-type stars, and some1600 IRAS sources have been revealed and identified. At present the survey isdigitized and DFBS database is created, which also serves as a basis for the Ar-menian Virtual Observatory (ArVO). SBS was carried out in 1978-1991 by B. E.Markarian, J. A. Stepanian et al. and covers smaller area (965 sq. deg.) but goesdeeper to 19m and has wider wavelength coverage. Both extended (emission-lineand UVX galaxies) and stellar (QSOs and blue stars) objects have been revealed,more than 3600 objects in total. Byurakan surveys have played an important rolein modern (especially) extragalactic astronomy and the objects revealed from themare being intensely investigated worldwide.

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The LAMOST II medium-resolution survey

Chao Liu

LAMOST survey is a Chinese-operated spectroscopic survey using a 4-meter reflec-tive Schimdt telescope. Since 2011, it has collected about 10 million low-resolutionspectra, most of which are stellar spectra. The LAMOST survey continuously cov-ering a large fraction of northen sky allows for broad studies about the Milky Way,especially for the Galactic outer disk. I will briefly highlight the achievment of theLAMOST survey in stellar physics and the Milky Way science. Then I will intro-duce the LAMOST II project for medium-resolution spectroscopic survey startedsince October 2018. Unlike LAMOST I, the new medium-resolution survey willnot only about the Milky Way but more focus on stellar physics. It also conductsa time-domain spectroscopic survey for about 200 thousands stars in the next 5years. We expect that the LAMOST II survey will have new breakthrough instellar physics, especially about binaries, pulsators, young stars, and some pecularstars, by providing time-domain spectroscopic data and synergy with Gaia datain the near future.

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The RAVE survey - Final Data Release

Matthias Steinmetz

tbd

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POSTERS

Monitoring of space objects using Odessa observatorynetwork of telescopes

Nataliya Bazyey

In this paper we are presenting optical telescopes of Astronomical Observatory ofI. I. Mechnikov Odessa National University. We are describing technical character-istics and scientific program for each telescope. Here we also present a descriptionof the tools with which the unique collections of astroplates were obtained underthe program “The Sky Service”. Odessa Observatory (46◦.28 N, 30◦.45 E, altitude64 m, observation code 086) its outlying observation posts: Mayaki (46.39◦ N,30◦.27 E, altitude 25 m, observation code 583) and Kryzhanovka (46◦.37 N, 30◦.48E, altitude 40 m, observation code A85) have a good geographical location (south-western part of the territory of Ukraine), as well as a good astroclimate (up to 200clear nights). Telescopes are equipped with modern CCD and PMT light detec-tors. Odessa Observatory has its own mechanical and optical workshops which areused to create new telescopes and manufacture and repair of other astronomicalequipment.

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Astronegative archive of Odessa observatory

Nataliya Bazyey

S. G. Kashuba1, N. V. Bazyey1, V. I. Kashuba1, M. K. Tsvetkov2

Astronomical Observatory of Odessa National University, 65014 Odessa, Ukraine1

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Institute of Astronomy with NAO2

Currently, Observatory of I.I. Mechnikov Odessa National University owns col-lections of astronegatives obtained with its own instruments (about 100000 glassplates), as well as those obtained with instruments from other observatories (about10000 plates). According to Bulgarian web-page WFPDB (wfpdb.org) Odessa col-lection of astroplates is second in Europe (after Sonneberg collection) and third inthe world (after Harvard and Sonneberg). In this poster we describe the currentcondition of our collection and consider our plans for how to maintain this impor-tant astronomical heritage. We are also discussing our first steps in digitizing partof a collection in accordance with the decision of the world virtual observatory andWFPDB standards.

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Balor - A New Large Field of View, High Performance,Fast Readout Detector for Sky Surveys

Colin Coates

Many challenges in modern astronomy require not only high resolution, large fieldof view and high sensitivity - they also require speed. However, traditional largearea CCD technology is very much performance limited in this regard, offeringonly seconds per frame rather than frames per second fast readout capability.We will present on the development of a new large area sCMOS platform calledBalor, designed to address this fundamental application shortfall. Balor 17F-12is capable of performing at greater than 50 fps at full 16.9 Megapixel resolution,whilst maintaining a low read noise of only 3.5 electrons rms. A 12 µm pixelsize ensures large field of view and large well depth. Extended Dynamic Rangetechnology means that the lowest read noise and full pixel well depth can beaccessed in a single image, facilitating fast, quantitative capture of both dim andbright objects. This unique combination of specifications will render Balor ideallysuited to demanding usages such as Orbital Debris tracking, NEO detection, Solarimaging, Exoplanet detection, high time resolution astrophysics and lucky imaging.

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Segmented infrared filters for the 1.3m telescope in theSlovak Tatra Mountains

Thorsten Dohring

Since 2015, the Astronomical Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences is op-erating a modern EU-funded reflecting telescope with a 130 cm primary mirror,located in the Skalnate Pleso Observatory in the Tatra Mountains at an altitude of1783 m. The systematic observation of comets and binary systems on the north-ern hemisphere occurs with this instrument. In 2018, the funding agency BAY-HOST (Bavarian Academic Center for Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe)granted the proposed project SLOBATCO (an abbreviation for Slovak-BavarianTelescope Collaboration) to Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences. Thecooperation project pursues the development of astronomical NIR filters, whichare designed for the atmospheric transmission windows in the infrared spectralrange. In order to avoid a complex cryogenic filter wheel for the NIR CCD cameraoperated at low temperatures, the observations should be realized through a seg-mented filter using precise shifts of the image field. The bi-national cooperationproject and the specification of the infrared filter combination are presented in thisposter contribution.

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Wendelstein Observatory - Going from diverse observationprograms and hardware to reduced data ready for science

Claus Goessl

Wendelstein Observatory (University of Munich, LMU) offers a wide range of ob-servational capabilities, i.e. a 2m telescope with its three operational imaging andspectroscopic instruments and a 40cm telescope for students lab and monitoringprojects. We describe how we schedule observations, monitor and archive scienceand technical data of the instruments, and how data gets processed to finallyextract science from it.

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Astronomical plates digitization by digital camera

Rene Hudec

Digitization by transportable device based on digital camera represents alternativetechnique for astronomical plate archives digitization worldwide. Several plate col-lections were digitized this way, e.g. Tuorla, Mexico, and Hewitt UK. Digitizationof astronomical plate archives in Austria is planned for 2019. The technique isvery fast, hence inexpensive, still providing scientific grade accuracy.

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Low noise, Large area CCD Cameras in High PrecisionExoplanet Projects

Ines Juvan-Beaulieu

Conducting high precision astronomical observations can be challenging when ob-serving faint and/or distant objects in combination with limited sensitivities ofthe involved instruments. However, Andor’s “off-the-shelf” iKon-L and iKon-XLCCD cameras can help maximize a high quality data output due to the camerashigh quantum efficiency (>90%), low dark current and read noise. Both iKon-Land iKon-XL’s ultimate sensitivity results from utilizing back-illuminated sensorsand the low noise levels follow from exceptionally deep TE cooling (-100C).

Andor’s iKon CCD series is in high demand especially within the exoplanetcommunity (e.g., exoplanet searches and follow-up studies). This is due to, forexample, the cameras perfect suitability to operate in remote observing loca-tions (e.g., no vacuum repumping necessary, in-field replaceable shutter) and theavailability of a sensor option with extended sensitivity towards the UV and NIR(‘BEX2-DD’).

We will highlight the key characteristics of both large area iKon-L and iKon-XL CCD cameras and present examples of on-going astronomy projects involvingthese camera solutions.

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Optical Study of Bright FERMI/LAT Blazars

Omar Kurtanidze

From 1997 we are conducting monitoring of about 70 blazars in BVRI bands usingST6 and Apogee cameras attached to 70-cm meniscus telescope. During nearlytwenty years over 300000 images have been obtained (3000 nights of observations).Most dense coverage of selected FERMI/LAT sources was undertaken after lunchof FERMI in 2008. We present optical light curves of most well sampled sources.

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Study of Blazars Utilizing CCD Cameras and MediumSize Telescopes

Omar Kurtanidze

Maria G. Nikolashvili, Omar M. Kurtanidze, Sofia O. Kurtanidze, AbastumaniObservatory, Mt. Kanobili, 0301, Abastumani, Georgia

The first report on micro-variability in AGNs was announced in the beginningof 60-ies, when a few sources were studied with a single-channel photoelectricphotometer and biggest Palomar telescopes. Nevertheless, these variations werereceived with skepticism due to the instrumental instabilities and the inherent nonrepeatability of time-critical observations. Availability and utilization of CCDcameras breathed new life to small telescopes. During last decades, the variabilitytime-scales from minutes to years have been studied for many blazars using com-mercial CCD cameras and small telescopes.A short review of blazar monitoringprograms conducted during last 20 years in Abastumani Observatory and futureprospects will be presented.

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Power Quality - Evaluation for Safe Operation ofObservatories (PQESOO)

Michael Mann

Within the project SLOBATCO the question did arise, to what extend observa-tories have to rely on adequate power quality, e.g. the perfect sinusoidal shape ofsupply voltage and current, in order to ensure safe operation and accurate mea-surement results. International power quality standards are put in perspectivewith requirement specifications. This contribution describes the motivation, pro-poses the measurement setup and interprets the first results in 2018. A summaryis provided together with an outlook and a motivation for future measurementcampaigns.

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Surveys with KASI small optical telescopes : SOAO 61cm,BOAO 1.8m, LOAO 1m, OWL 5x0.5m and KMTNet 3 x

1.6m

Eon-Chang Sung

We report survey projects of small optical telescopes of KASI (Korea Astronomyand Space Science Institute). KASI has several telescopes and telescope networkswith diameters of less than 2m in the world. Each telescopes and telescope net-works have unique survey projects. We will discuss optical surveys of KASI withthree small telescopes - SOAO 61cm, LOAO 1m and BOAO 1.8m, and two tele-scope networks – OWL 5x0.5m and KMTnet 3 x 1.6m.

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On the FON astroplate project accomplishment

Iryna Vavilova

I.B. Vavilova1, V.M. Andruk1, L.K. Pakuliak1, Q. Yuldoshev2, A.Mullo-Abdolov3, I. Eglitis4, H. Relke5, M.M. Muminov6, Yu.I. Protsyuk7, Sh.A.

Ehgamberdiev2, S.V. Shatokhina1, O.M. Yizhakevych1, G. Kokhirova3, L.V.Kazantseva8

1Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,Kyiv, Ukraine2Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences,Tashkent,Uzbekistan3Institute of Astrophysics of the Academy of Sciences of Republic Tajikistan,Dushanbe, Tajikistan4Institute of Astronomy, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia5Walter Hohmann Observatory, Essen, Germany6Andijan State University, Andijan, Uzbekistan7Research Institute Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory, Mykolaiv, Ukraine8Astronomical Observatory of Kyiv Shevchenko National University, Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract. The plan for a photographic survey of the northern sky (FON)was proposed at the Golosiiv observatory (Main Astronomical Observatory, NASof Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine) in the late 1970-ies [Pakuliak et al., 2016; Vavilova,2016; Vavilova et al., 2017]. The last compilation of the final catalog of objectsinvolves 5,700 digitized astroplates of four observatories: MAO NAS of Ukraine(Kyiv, Ukraine) [Andruk et al., 2016], Kitab Astronomical Observatory (Tashkent,Uzbekistan) [Yuldoshev et al., 2017], Gissar Astronomical Observatory (Dushanbe,Tajikistan) [Mullo-Abdolov et al., 2017, 2018], and the observatory in Baldone(Latvia) [Eglitis, 2017]. The consolidated catalog of positions and B-magnitudesof stars will cover the declination range from -20 to +90 degrees [Andruk et al.,2017]. The average epoch of the catalog is approximately 1987, the B-magnitudeis 17.5m. Positions of objects will be obtained in the Tycho-2 reference systemand B-values in the reference frame of photoelectric standards. The roadmap ofcompilation includes corrections for the presence of the photometric color equationin B-values. Stellar magnitudes in U and V color bands have been obtainingby processing more than 5,400 plates exposed by the 1.2m Schmidt telescope inBaldone Observatory. The U, B, V magnitudes for stars brighter than V<8.5m willbe added from the existing photoelectric star catalogs. To determine the propermotions of stars, it is planned to use the GAIA project data.

To date, the following has been done:1) On the basis of 2260 processed astroplates of Kyiv part of the FON projectthe catalog of positions and B magnitudes of 24.7 million objects down to B ≤16.5m was created. The catalog covers the northern hemisphere with δ from -4 to+90 degrees. The mean epoch of the catalog is 1988.2. The internal accuracy ofthe catalog for all the objects is σα,δ = ±0.28” in positions and σB = ±0.17m in

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magnitudes (for stars in the range of B = 7m -14m these errors are σα,δ= ±0.13”and σB = ±0.08m). The convergence between obtained and reference positions isestimated as σα,δ = ±0.06”. For magnitudes, this value is σB = ±0.14m.2) On the basis of 1963 processed astroplates of the Kitab part of the FON project,the catalog of positions and B-magnitudes of 13.4 million objects down to B ≤17.5m was completed. The catalog covers the declination zone from -20.5 to +2.5degrees. The mean epoch is 1985.0. The internal accuracy of the catalog for allthe objects is σα,δ = ±0.23” in positions and σB = ±0.15m in magnitudes. Theseerrors are σα,δ = ±0.085” and ?B = ±0.054m for stars brighter than 14m. Theconvergence between calculated and reference positions is σα,δ = ±0.042”. Thisvalue is σB = ±0.16m for photoelectric B-magnitudes,3) The FON glass collection of Institute of Astrophysics of the Academy of Sciencesof the Republic of Tajikistan includes around 1560 photographic plates. The firstresults of 130 plates’ processing show that the positional errors are σα,δ = 0.33”,and photometric ones are σB = 0.12m for the photometric interval of 5m . . . 17m.The convergence between calculated and reference positions of Tycho2 is σα,δ =0.12”, the same value for obtained and reference Tycho2 magnitudes is σBT =0.19m. The convergence of photometric estimations with photoelectric values isσB = 0.14m. 4). To obtain another two color bands for the enhancement of thephotometric system of the created catalog, the digitization and processing of Uand V plates from the Baldone glass collection of 1.2m Schmidt telescope are ontheir way. The collection includes 780 and 4660 astroplates in the appropriatecolors.

References 1. Andruk V.M., Pakuliak L.K., Golovnia V.V. et al.: 2016, Kinem.Phys. Cel. Bodies, 32, No. 5, 260.2. Andruk V., Yuldoshev Q., Eglitis I. et al.: 2017, Odessa Astron. Publ., 30, 159.3. Eglitis I., Andruk V.: 2017, Open Astronomy, 26, N1, 7.4. Mullo-Abdolov A., Relke H., Kokhirova A. et al.: 2018, Odessa Astron Publ.,31, 2245. Pakuliak L.K., Andruk V.M., Golovnia V.V. et al.: 2016, Odessa Astron. Publ.,29, 132.6. Vavilova I.B.: 2016, Odessa Astron. Publ., 29, 109.7. Vavilova I.B., Yatskiv Ya.S., Pakuliak L.K. et al.: 2017, Proc. IAU Symposium,Vol. 325, pp. 361-366.8. Yuldoshev Q.X., Ehgamberdiev Sh.A., Muminov M.M. et al.: 2017, Kinem.Phys. Cel. Bodies, 33, No. 5, 250.

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On the ”solar system small bodies” astroplate project ofthe Ukrainian Virtual Observatory

Iryna Vavilova

A new approach for creation of the catalogs of astrometric and photometric char-acteristics of small bodies of the Solar system

We obtained from digitized photographic observations of the UkrVO Joint Dig-ital Archive and newest digitized data processing services:

• Catalogs of coordinates and magnitudes of asteroids

• Catalog of positions and B-values of Pluto

• Catalogs of the satellites of Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune

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Showing the possibility of N(ear)R(eal)T(ime) creation ofWCS solutions with solvefield for a complete sky survey

Mario Ennes, Walter Furtig

The detection of fast moving or new objects on sky surveys with small camerasdepend largely on the creation of a valid WCS solution for each image. A shorttime for detecting these objects on images is crucial for subsequent time criticalactions to be taken. For comparing found sources with online catalogs a valid WCSis neeeded. The more time spent for getting an initial or iterative wcs solution theless time for other tasks is left over. Experiences with solvefield applied to singlefield images in the past showed different parameter sets as an optimum for eachfield. Getting th optimum parameters for solving each field of a survey cant’t bedone manually if n(ear) r(eal) t(ime) processing should be achieved. An automatedprocess needs a near optimum parameter set to be used for all fields of the surveyto minimize overall solving time for all images but not only for some.

This work focusses on the possibility of getting duration minimized parametersets for an ( initial ) astrometric solving of a sky survey.

Several sets are checked on real images and are evaluated for being possiblecandidates for an automated detection process. The criteria choosen to be saties-fied is that the duration of getting a WCS solution should no longer last than onethird of an exposure time of one image. The other two thirds should be sufficientfor improving the WCS, retrieving the online/offline catalog data, doing the com-parison and some kind of alerting. The fullfillment of this criteria is considered tobe valid for a n(ear) r(eal) t(ime) creation of a WCS solution.

In the first part about 65 randomly choosen digital images of different sky areasare solved with 36 parameter sets. Characteristics of the solutions like durationand found sources are compared. Some hints for getting a good parameter set isgiven.

The second part takes a detailed look on the parametrisation of several solve-field runs. Possible enhancements are discussed and an outlook for further inves-tigations is given.

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Sonneberg Observatory PHotographic Image Archive

Peter Kroll

Sonneberg Observatory harbours approx. 275,000 astronomical glass plates andfilms taken with different instruments and at different sites between 1923 and2010. More than 85% (237,000 plates) have been digitized in the last years formingSOPHIA – Sonneberg Observatory PHotographic Image Archive with 25 TB ofraw image data. Currently effort is taken to find WCS solutions for all digitizedplates of the Sky Patrol as these form a homogeneous sub collection (about 150,000plates) of more or less equal scale (825”/mm), limiting magnitude (14.5m in pg(blue); 13.5m in pv (yellow/red)), emulsions and time coverage (1954 – 2010).

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Sonneberg Observatory Digital All-Sky Survey

Sergej Schuhmacher

Sonneberg Observatory’s traditional Sky Patrol (see SOPHIA poster) with pho-tographic plates is continued by digital monitoring using different types of instru-ments. The cascade starts with all-sky cameras using fish-eye lenses. We have setup to cameras, one from the consumer market, the other as in-house development.An almost continuous monitoring from dawn to dawn is achieved by 20-secondsexposures with just 2.5 seconds read-out time, reaching stars of 6m and 7m in thezenith. The survey runs since four years with the main goals of bright star mon-itoring, detection of bright transients and fireballs, besides statistics of unusualatmospheric phenomena.

er

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